SOTA music festival goes online with SOTAStream on WA Day

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The free, all-ages festival, showcasing legendary local musicians, is a highlight of the wider WA Day celebrations, but gathering restrictions cancelled the planned party on June 1.

The event has been reimagined as SOTAstream — a live show broadcast from Freo.Social to an at-home audience.

It is the first time the concert has been run exclusively online and will feature Abbe May, Carla Geneve, Drapht, Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse, Methyl Ethel, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and San Cisco.

Rapper Drapht, real name Paul Reid has been involved in SOTA a handful of times but admitted the virtual set-up was “new territory” for him.

“A lot of my stuff is pretty energetic and is fuelled by the party, so I am a little bit nervous, to be honest,” he told AAA.

“I have an amazing band and I think we are going to strip it back a little bit and focus more on the songs people know and want to hear at home.”

Camera IconDrapht performing at SOTA 2019.

After finishing his last tour in December, Reid did not expect to be back on stage until the end of the year with the coronavirus crisis.

“I was incredibly surprised to have a paid gig through the isolation period,” he said.

However, Reid believed there were brighter days ahead for the local music scene.

“In the next six months, I hope it will be a positive time for Australian music, as the (international) borders will remain closed for some time and a lot of people will be focused on homegrown music,” he said.

“The industry will build from the ground up again with purely Australian acts.”

Reid has spent his time in isolation finishing his next album, but understands not all his peers have had the same luxury of working throughout the pandemic.

“I am very fortunate, but there are so many session musos out there that rely on that week-to-week pay cheque, so that is absolutely devastating for a lot of my friends,” he said.

Reid added the best way the public could continue to support local acts was by buying merchandise and streaming music on platforms such as Spotify.

SOTAstream will stream on June 1, from 2-8pm, for free online at PerthNow and be broadcast on RTRFM radio.